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Automatic Subscription Renewal Problem

by StoneColdHomer
5 replies
Hi fellow warriors.

I have a situation and would like your opinion on this before I really lose my cool and fly off the handle at someone.

Now I'm not going to mention names.

Twelve months ago I bought an Ebook store, which included a function to have it updated automatically each month. Paid an annual fee for both the updates and the hosting of the store, all with the same guy.

I have not had any success with it and decided that I was not going to renew.

Check my emails yesterday saying that I had been charged for another twelve months.

There has never been any correspondence from this company saying that your anniversary is coming up and the renewal is due. They just automatically took the funds from my Paypal account.

I have reviewed the contract and the T & C associated with it, and no where in these does it say that they will renew the product automatically.

I have contact them to take them up on the issue and their response was that it was mentioned in the Paypal check out and they sent the following from the checkout page.

"Subscription To Terms. $97.00 USD for the first year Then $97.00 USD for each year $97.00 USD"

To me this does not say that it would be renewed automatically. Am I wrong?

I also took them up on the issue of sending reminder emails to thier clients. Their response was, and I quote,

"Unfortunately it is not possible for us to record 1,000's clients information, and manually check and email them to notify them that their subscription renewal date is approaching.

This is a feature that you could suggest to PayPal, as it is PayPal's system that automatically charged you again."

Come on. I know this is rubbish.

Your comments are welcomed and appreciated.

Am I way off base and should I just shuy my trap and cop it on the chin and mark it up as a lession learned, or should I take this further and take them on?
#automatic #problem #renewal #subscription
  • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
    Originally Posted by StoneColdHomer View Post

    "Subscription To Terms. $97.00 USD for the first year Then $97.00 USD for each year $97.00 USD"

    To me this does not say that it would be renewed automatically. Am I wrong?
    Yes. All PayPal subscriptions renew automatically. It is simply the way they work. One of the many benefits to a PayPal subscription is that you can cancel it yourself without having to deal with the vendor who "owns" the subscription - and one of the many drawbacks is that you have to.

    It's a lesson learned. Sorry you had to learn it like this, but I think most of us have had this happen.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      Am I wrong?
      Afraid so. You have to cancel recurring subscriptions through paypal.

      It's a good idea to check paypal history for "subscriptions" for the past year to see if you have any other subscriptions you may have forgotten about.

      I say check for one year because an annual subscription will only show in the month when it was created or charged.

      kay
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  • Profile picture of the author koriley
    Stonecold,

    You can always dispute the charge with paypal. Also, in the future you can check your subscriptions by clicking on the history link. This will show you if the initial charge has created a subscription. If it has, you can easily cancel it right there.

    Hope that helps

    Kevin
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  • Profile picture of the author Alex Mensah
    Yeah, I would definately recommend checking your subcriptions. I make a mental note to do this at least once every two months just to keep track of all my recurring payments. You can also try to dispute it. Paypal may or may not chargeback the money to you. But you can try...
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    • Profile picture of the author StoneColdHomer
      Thanks guys.

      Lesson learnt.

      Just thought from a customer services point of view that contact / reminder should be sent.

      The forum has proved itself to me again as the greatest source of knowledge.

      Again thanks
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